


Why waking up at 4 in the morning sucks ass

by Sascha (greenet)



Category: WAP!
Genre: Friendship, Gen, early morning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-03-24
Updated: 2008-03-24
Packaged: 2017-11-08 03:45:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenet/pseuds/Sascha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex train-of-thought at 4 in the morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why waking up at 4 in the morning sucks ass

Alex is awake at some insane time of night again. He's sitting on the floor in the lounge, sketchbook in his lap and drawing out tattoo designs. Sometimes he thinks all his tattoos are really a result of insomnia. Except the one on his face which will forever be Ryan Ross's fault even if he hadn't even known him then. Izzy liked to say he had premonitions when things went weirdly right even though they shouldn't. Alex thought the facial tattoo was his Ryan Ross premonition.

At least at what the fuck time of the morning, that's what he thought. He frowns a little, changing his grip on the calligraphy pen until it moves the way he wants it to.

Cassie is snoring gently on the couch, nose pressed against her ice bat ugly doll. The rest of the band has actually made it to their beds this time. Sometimes Alex wakes up to find Rick curled up on the floor by the coffee maker and that's just a little disturbing. Usually he just pushes him under the table and throws a blanket over him. Alex needs his coffee after all. And, okay, coffee at four in the morning might help explain why he doesn't fall back asleep, but Alex is in a groove here  
and it works for him.

Not to mention that four in the morning on the bus is usually the only time it's more or less quiet. He loves his band, he does, but there are times when he -really- wishes they knew how to shut the fuck up. Even when they're not talking, there's always noise. Cassie watching tv, Jana absently drumming in tune with whatever's on her iPod, Rick talking to himself and/or trying to master yet another instrument and Izzy humming. Izzy is the one least aware of what he's doing, Alex thinks,  
because when he glares at the others they flush a little and stop for at least five minutes, but Izzy just looks vaguely confused (and sometimes he looks down at his shirt which is when Alex realizes that Iz has stolen one of his clean shirts again the bastard).

He hasn't been drawing anything in particular - just something vaguely tribal like his arm tattoo, but he likes how the pattern spikes and intertwine on the page. He always draws his own tattoos, which Rick had once commented explained a lot. Alex had smacked him upside the head, but, yeah, it probably did.

For a moment he sucks at the back of the calligraphy pen. He's considered this before, but never really written it out... Alex shrugs a little and bends back over the pad, carefully writing out WAP! in various combinations, trying to find one which doesn't look completely retarded. Sometimes he honestly thinks they should've thought up an actual name for the band.

Usually when Cassie is tearing at her hair and complaining that "nothing fucking good fucking rhymes with WAP!" He doesn't know why she needs it to rhyme  
and he doesn't WANT to know either.

When the bus slows down, stopping, Alex has a crick in his neck and five pages full of WAP! designs. He stretches, straightening his legs as he does so. He puts the pad on the table, and pads outside to see if there's a gas station. Ace is waiting for him, leaned up against the side of the door. He gives Alex a small smile and nudges his cap. He started waiting five cities ago, when he figured out about Alex's fucked up sleep schedule.

Alex yawns back at him, and Ace snickers quietly before nodding towards the gas station. "Breakfast, kid?" Alex nods, making sure the door is closed properly before following. He spots Trevor's boots in the window and grins.

"Trevor asleep?"

Ace waggles his hand back and forth. "He told me to get a hot dog and mango snapple, but he could've been talking in his sleep."

They share a grin as Alex pushes the door open. He's startled by the jingle when he steps in and stops dead in his tracks. Ace walks into him, grabbing his waist to stay upright. He huffs into Alex's neck, amused. "Not enough coffee yet?"

Alex blinks. "Haven't had any yet. Got sidetracked." He shakes Ace and the startlement off and continues into the shop. It takes him much longer than it should to pick out which snacks he wants. He does grab the biggest cup of coffee they have though, much to Ace's amusement. He doesn't actually smile, but Alex has learned to decipher that particular eyebrow quirk. Ace does that a lot whenever Rick comes to gush at him about his own car, the wonderful wreck named Martha. Nobody else can be bothered to even fake listening anymore.

Ace should probably get some sort of listening to Rick bonus, Alex thinks idly. Apparently he looks more lost and confused than he really is because Ace leads him gently by the arm to a picnic table, telling him to stay there while he brings Trevor his food.

Ace is nice. Alex isn't quite sure why he calls Alex kid so much though. He's nearly sure Ace is Rick's age. He's also nearly sure Ace isn't his real name. Not that it really matters. As long as Alex can call him something other than "hey, you, driver guy" he's happy. Alex doesn't care if he comes off as rude, but he doesn't want to do it accidentally. If he's being rude, he'll damn well mean it.

The exception being Pete Wentz who doesn't seem to notice anything short of a punch in the face. Alex isn't allowed to punch people in the face on this tour. Moric had been very specific about it, and there was even a list. Izzy had the list. Jana didn't care as long as her drum sets didn't get upset, Rick fought dirty too and Cassie could do horrible things with her heels. Izzy was the only one likely to both care and not join in, so the list was his. He took his responsibility very seriously.

Once he'd waded right in and Alex had accidentally clocked him in the nose. The shocked expression on Izzy's face had haunted him for the entire following week.

Alex frowns down at his snickers bar.

"Hey, what's on your mind?"

"Peace signs," Alex replies, looking up.

Ace's eyebrows go up, but he doesn't comment. Instead he nods towards Alex's coffee. "You should drink it before it gets cold."

"I'm gonna," Alex agrees. He's looking towards the dawn, watching the colours change and creep over the horizon. It's beautiful. Ace lets him look, quietly eating his hot dog. He knows when to shut up. Alex appreciates that in a person. He drinks his coffee slowly, enjoying the clean, fresh feeling of a new day. When the sky has brightened to a clear yellowpinkorange, he gets up and throws the empty wrapper and cup into the trash.

"Thanks," he tells Ace before heading back into the bus. Ace pushes his cap further down into his face, but Alex can see him smiling.

"Anytime, kid."

In the lounge Cassie has been replaced by Rick who's staring blankly at the tv. The tv appears to be playing Care Bears. Alex joins him on the couch, offering him a Mars bar. Rick takes it absently, still staring.

"I have no idea what's going on, but the colours are pretty," Rick says finally.

Alex looks away from the bear drama. "Are you high?"

Rick slides down in the couch, tilting his body towards Alex who curls his arms around him automatically. "No. I think it would make sense if I were high," he says, slightly wistfully. "I only woke up five minutes ago, bitch."

"Tramp."

"You have coffee breath."

"I know," Alex says happily.

Rick wrinkles his nose, but doesn't move away.

**Author's Note:**

> [Ugly doll ice bat](http://www.uglydolls.com/products/productdetail/part_number=10071/322.0.1.1)   
>  [Carebears](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNm5Hqow78I)


End file.
